Shivaji Rao Gaekwad popularly known as Rajnikant has made a great contribution to the Tamil films with his extraordinary style. Rajni was born in the city of Bangalore in a lower middle class Maharashtrian family on 12th December, 1949.
Rajnikant did his schooling from Acharya Patasala, Bangalore and then joined Vivekananda Balak Sangh. He started off his career as a bus conductor of Karnataka Road Transport Corporation. Rajnikant married Lata, an English graduate, in 1981. He has two daughters named Aishwarya and Soundarya.
During his film career he acquired knowledge on the bits and pieces of cinema from Madras Film Institute. He made his debut into the Tamil film industry with K. Balachander's movie Apoorva Ragaangal which created a platform for him in the world of cinema. Rajnikant has acted in over 150 films throughout.
His Telugu film Peddarayudu was a huge hit. He displayed a unique style of lighting cigarette in 'Moondru Mudichu' where he put it on his palm and patted making it land directly on his lips. His inroad into Bollywood was made during the 80s with film Andhaa Kanoon. Rajnikant was awarded Padmabhushan in 2000, the year of his completion of 25 years in film industry. He even performed in a Hollywood film named Bloodstone, 1988.
His Bollywood movies:
- Andha Kannon
- Giraftarr
- Chalbaaz
- Bewafai
- John Jani Janardhan
South-Indian movies:
- Thillu Mullu
- Chandramukhi
- Bhasha
- Muthu
- Arunachalam
- Padayappa
- Ranuva Veeran
- Anbukku Naan Adimai
- Naan Adimai Illai
- Padikkadavan
- Moondru Mugam
- Thai Meethu Sathiyam
- Oorkavalan
- Annai Oru Alayam
- Kuppathu Raja
Awards:
- Best Actor for Moondru Mugam,1982
- Filmfare Best Actor for Nallavanuku Nallavan,1984
- Best Actor for Sri Raagavendirar,1985
- Best Achiever Award for Bloodstone,1988
- Best Actor for Thalapathy,1991
- Best Actor for Annamalai, 1992
- Best Actor for Muthu,1995
- Best Actor for Padaiyappa,1999
Ranbir Kapoor
Rani Mukherjee
Shammi Kapoor
Satyajit Ray
Shabana Azmi
Abhishek Bachchan
Deepa Mehta
Mahesh Bhatt
Yash Chopra
Raj Kapoor
Aishwarya Rai
Mira Nair
Amitabh Bachchan
Shah Rukh Khan
Mammootty
Javed Akhtar
A.R. Rahman
Gulzar
Asha Bhonsle
Remo Fernandes
M.S. Subbulakshmi
Dr. Bhupen Hazarika
Dev Anand
Deepika Padukone
